Bison, history attract 750 to Prairie State Park

The numbers were a bit lower than in the past, but approximately 750 people came to Barton County to see the largest remaining tract of untilled, unspoiled tall grass prairie in Missouri.

John Hacker

Prairie State Park, located near Liberal in western Barton County, hosted the Prairie Jubilee on Saturday, an event held every two years to celebrate the rich history of the sea of grass that once covered more than two-thirds of Missouri.

Approximately 750 people came to see the largest remaining tract of untilled, unspoiled tall grass prairie in Missouri.

More than 60 volunteers gave visitors a perspective on what it was like more than 150 years ago to live among the thousands of bison and other rich wildlife that abounded in the prairie.

Brian Miller, superintendent of Prairie State Park, said the most popular event was the hayrides to see the park’s 120-strong herd of massive bison.

“It’s hard to imagine that the bison we have here in the park are really wild animals just like the buffalo that roam Africa or the bison that roamed America in huge herds more than 130 years ago,” Miller said. “It’s also hard to imagine that the first settlers to this area in the early 1800s encountered huge herds of hundreds of thousands of these massive animals when they first arrived.”

Also on display was a living history loop, which featured a trail and stops along that trail to demonstrate elements of prairie life, such as a one-room schoolhouse for settler children, an Osage Indian lodge to show how the Native Americans lived, a trappers camp to see how the travelers who preceded the settlers lived, and a “border war display” to show how settlers fought for survival when the Civil War tore the area along the Kansas-Missouri border apart.

“I think it’s important to show the next generation what a prairie is like and show them how important it was to our development,” Miller said. “The next generation of kids will be the ones to take care of this and the other state parks in the future and it’s essential that we instill in them an understanding of the park and its history.”